Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. All the candles on the Advent wreath have been lit. Now, it’s time to take the wreath down and decorate the church for Christmas. Father and I will hang up the purple vestments until the first week of March when Lent will begin.

For the past three weekends we’ve been hearing about John the Baptist and his ministry of preparing the way of the Lord. Remember Jesus called John the greatest man ever born of a woman. But He promised us that the least person in heaven would be greater even than John. We have hope because that includes you and me.

But today the Gospel takes a different tone. There’s no mention of John. Today’s story is about Mary and Joseph. It’s a critical story because it gives us some insight into what these two people had to do to fulfill their part in salvation history.

The angel of the Lord has visited Mary and told her that she would bear a son. In Friday’s Gospel reading from Luke the angel tells Mary, “He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his fatherand he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” As we all know, Mary told the angel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Now, Mary was engaged to Joseph. When Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant his first impulse was to “divorce her quietly.” Remember, things were much different in Mary and Joseph’s world than they are today. In our world unmarried mothers are not scorned. They’re not ashamed of their situation and some even brag about it. Famous people, especially members of the Hollywood crowd go on talk shows and talk openly about their pregnancies. They are proud of what they’ve done and don’t seem the least bit concerned about their sinfulness. But for about the first 1,900 years of the Christian era, being an unwed mom wasn’t something to be celebrated. It was the cause of great shame and embarrassment.

So, it’s not hard to understand how Joseph felt. Mary had brought shame on herself and on him. Guys, put yourself in his place. What would you have done? Matthew tells us that Joseph was a “righteous man”. He was “unwilling to expose her to shame.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would have been as gracious as Joseph.

But the angel appears to him in a dream and explains what’s going on. Mary has conceived through the Holy Spirit. Her son will save His people from their sins.

The experts tell us that Mary was young, probably a teenager. Joseph was older. Imagine what his friends and family must have said. “It serves your right, Joseph. You decide to marry this young girl and she turns up pregnant. What did you expect?” Think about the gossip. But, he ignored the taunts of his so-called friends and did what the angel told him to do. I’m sure he spent a lot of time in prayer.

So here we have two ordinary people who’ve been asked to make huge sacrifices so that the prophet Isaiah’s words would be fulfilled: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.”

Joseph, being a “righteous man” and a devout Jew, surely was familiar with Isaiah’s prophesy. Surely he and Mary spent a lot of time talking about what was about to happen. Maybe they both had planned on having a big family. Maybe Joseph had big plans for his carpentry business. If they were engaged, they must have spent a lot of time talking about what their lives would be like as a married couple. But all that changed in an instant. And today we thank God that they were willing to give all that up for the greater glory of God. If either one of them had said no 2,000 years ago, our lives would be very different today. By agreeing to God’s plan they set things in motion that would change the world forever.

You and I also play a part in God’s plan. Even though we will probably never be recognized by the world, every time we say yes to God’s plan, we start a chain-of-events that changes the world.

Is there anyone here who’s never seen It’s a Wonderful Life? It was on TV last night. George Bailey was given a wonderful gift. He gets to see what his world would have been like if he’d never been born. Of course it’s fiction, but it’s definitely a story that should make us think. What would our world be like if we’d never been born? What little things have we done that have changed other people’s lives? Chances are, like George, we have no idea. God does great things through ordinary people and things.

If you’ve been following the news this week, you know about Phil Robertson. He’s been attacked for stating his Christian beliefs. And the whole thing has had some remarkable results. There’s a Facebook page called “Bring Back Phil Robertson”. In just two days it’s received more than a million “likes”. Americans are standing up for their faith (and Phil’s) in amazing numbers. God is working a miracle with something as simple as a duck call. It’s a beautiful thing to happen just a week before Christmas.

My recent blog post on Phil-gate has had more hits than all my previous posts put together.

I could stand up here all day and talk about things that have happened in my life that can only be explained by God’s intervention. He put the right person in the right place at the right time to give me something that I needed. Maybe it was something they said. Maybe it was something they did. But, God’s hand was in it. I know all of you could do the same.

So, as we prepare to celebrate the greatest event in the history of mankind, it’s good to reflect on today’s story. Two ordinary people from a very small town said yes to God and changed everything. That’s what Christmas is about. That’s what our Catholic faith is all about. Christmas is a time when we focus on a great miracle. But miracles happen every day. We may be the catalyst for a miracle and never even know it. Thank you Mary and Joseph for saying “yes”.